Torn Love & Broken Trust
by Ixipob
Summary: To teach Harry not to take advantage of her, Hermione makes Harry jealous by acting as if she is in love with Draco. But when Draco?s father dies and needs someone to help him cope, Hermione realizes that her love for Draco may not be an act after all.
1. Brutal Midnight

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Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything related to it/him. I'm simply an old fan and felt like writing a fanfic about it. :D

Please read & review, I'll be uploading the next chapters shortly!

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"Are you out of your mind, Malfoy?" Harry said, knowing Draco couldn't be serious.

"Don't act like I'm mad, Potter, I'm serious," Draco spat back.

"Well you are mad, Malfoy. Madame Hooch would have us dead if she caught us," Harry said, turning back around to the feast lain before them. Draco, standing behind Harry, groaned and almost walked away. But before he did, Draco snatched a chicken leg that Ron was about to devour and held it in front of Harry.

"You see this, Potter? This is you. Chicken," Draco said, "If you feel like redeeming your title as the all-wondrous Harry Potter, I better meet you down at the field tonight."

"And what if I don't, Malfoy?"

"Don't ever expect me to have any respect for you ever again."

"I'll truly be heartbroken."

Draco sneered, tossed the chicken back to Ron, and walked back to the Slytherin table. Harry shook his head in amazement of how moronic some of Draco's little plots could be. Ron examined the chicken leg, and soon devoured it when the inspection was over.

"Always up for competition, he is," Harry commented.

"I'm sure he had something planned," Ron said.

"I mean, really, he wants us to race on our brooms, in the middle of the night! We'd lose so many House Points, and Lord knows what else!" Harry said.

"No one will ever know how his mind works," Ron said.

"Oh would you give him a break!" Hermione cried, "He just wants to see who's faster, it doesn't mean he's contrived some devious plan to wreck your stupid little broom or something. Good Lord! Is it really something to get so upset about?"

"What? We can't have dinner conversations now?" Harry asked her.

Hermione groaned out of frustration, leapt up from her seat and walked out of the Great Hall, and headed for the Gryffindor common room.

"Who stuck a wand up her butt?" Ron murmured.

"I know! Really! Can you believe she was sticking up for Draco?" Harry cried.

"I'm telling you," Ron said, testing the edibility of a hardened dinner roll, "Girlfriends are the devil. You'd be better off alone."

"The last time I took your advice on females," Harry reminded him, "I ended up in a skirt."

"Hey," Ron defended, "All I said is some girls like guys in touch with their feminine side."

Hermione lay in her bed, wide awake. She and Harry had been going out for almost a year, and it was going nowhere. Plus, she didn't see it going anywhere in the future. Harry always complained how Draco always thought he was the biggest, baddest and best, even though Harry was no better. Harry thought everyone should pity him and idolize him at the same time, and Hermione had done that for some time. No more. Harry's had his 15 seconds of fame, Hell, he's had over 15 years of fame, that evens out the rest. Hermione wouldn't be his pity girl anymore.

CRASH.

Hermione scrambled out of bed, and hurried to nearest window. She put a hand on the cold stone wall and peered out of the window to see what had just crashed. Down near the Quidditch field was none other than Harry, and a missing Draco. Her eyes scanned the field but didn't see Draco anywhere. She could then make out a rustling in the forest nearby, and a limping Draco staggered out, keeping his broom in hand.

Hermione ran to get changed, but realized she had forgot to change into any form of pajamas anyway. She snatched her Gryffindor robe, pulled it on, and quickly hurried down the tower, making sure not to wake any other Gryffindors. Her shoes clapped against the stone stairs as she ran down towards the common room, letting her fingers feel the hard ice wall. She reached the common room, and there sit Ron watching the flames of the fireplace.

"What in the world are you doing here?" Hermione snapped at him in a whisper.

"I'm waiting up for Harry to come back from his little race with Draco. What are _you_ doing her?" Ron said, realizing her entrance to the common room.

"I heard a noise outside and I'm going out to see what it is," Hermione informed him.

"A noise?" Ron asked, "What kind of noise?"

"I think Draco's hurt," Hermione said.

"Oh, is that all?" Ron said, turning back to the flames.

"And you call _him_ insensitive," Hermione muttered and started walking out to the hallway.

"Wait," Ron said, tossing a silvery material to Hermione, "Take Harry's invisibility cloak so you don't get caught."

"Thank you," Hermione said, accepting the cloak and pulling it on, over her head, making sure that her entire body was covered. She turned to Ron.

"Do I look invisible?" she asked, then noticing the stupidity in her question.

"You've never looked so invisible in your life," he said.

"I'll take that as a compliment."

Hermione rushed out of the common room. She was sure to avoid prefects and Filch at all costs. After careful maneuverings and sleuthing, she finally made it to the bottom floor of the Hogwarts castle. Just as she was about to leave through the front door, the growling of a little black cat stopped Hermione. She turned around, and examined it. It seemed half the age of Mrs. Norris, so it couldn't be her. Hermione stooped and examined the kitten's tag attached to its collar. It read simply, _Bad Luck_.

"That's an odd name for a kitten," Hermione thought, "Then again, it _is_ a black cat."

Hermione decided to ignore the black ball of fur and tugged at the huge wooden door. It slowly began creeping open as Hermione pulled with all her might. The kitten began walking around Hermione's ankles and purred. Hermione kicked a little to get the cat away, but the kitten was relentless. Once there was enough of an opening, Hermione stopped tugging on the door and made her way outside. With both hands and gritted teeth Hermione began closing the giant door. The kitten scrambled outside before Hermione could completely close the door.

"What do you think you're doing?" Hermione snapped at the cat.

The cat looked up at her with pleading eyes and put a paw on her shoe.

"I can't keep you, if that's what you're thinking," Hermione informed the cat, "You have a collar, so you must belong to someone."

The kitten pawed at Hermione's shin with a begging stare, so Hermione picked up the cat and cradled it in her arms.

"Fine," Hermione said, "I'll take care of you for tonight, but tomorrow we find your owner, alright?"

The kitten buried her head in Hermione's arm and began falling asleep. Hermione made sure the giant door leading into Hogwarts was shut, and then made her way around to the Quidditch field. By the time she got there, Draco had limped his way towards the castle and Harry looked very annoyed. Hermione removed the invisibility cloak. Harry looked up and saw Hermione as he dropped his angry stance and cocked his head to the side in confusion of why Hermione was there and why she had a cat. Hermione set the kitten down, and Draco looked up.

"What the hell are you doing here, Granger?" Malfoy said through groans of pain.

"I came to see what happened. I heard a crash and it woke me up. What in the world are you two doing here in the middle of the night?"

"I decided to challenge Draco to that race," Harry told her.

"And you didn't win so you threw him into the forest?" Hermione asked.

"No!" Harry shouted, "Draco rammed into me to try and knock me off my broom, so I knocked him back. I guess I hit him a little too hard."

"Damn straight you hit me too hard," Draco said, lifting up his arm to see his wounds. Hermione saw he had bloody scratches all over his arm, a few cuts on his face, and he was limping on his left leg.

"We better take you straight to Madame Pomfrey," Hermione said to Draco.

"Aren't you going to ask if I'm okay?" Harry asked angrily.

"You're not the one who fell into the treetops, Harry!" Hermione shouted.

"Yeah? Well I think I bruised my arm, if you _care_," Harry said.

Hermione scowled and began helping Draco back towards Hogwarts. Usually, Draco would swat her hands off him and say he could help himself just fine, but he was in too much pain to care who was helping him. With Hermione's arm around him, Draco limped back to the castle, as Harry stood in his spot and wondered what was wrong with Hermione lately.


	2. Not the Only Guy

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters, blah blah blah.

A/N: Thank you for the reviews! I don't have chapter three written entirely yet, so it may take a few days, but I will be continuing it!

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Chapter 2 – Not the Only Guy

"Oh my!" Madame Pomfrey shouted as she looked Draco up and down, "What in the world happened here? Hermione? Did you do this?"

"I'm afraid Draco fell into the trees. He's pretty beat up," Hermione informed her.

Draco looked up at Madame Pomfrey with a slightly glazed over look. His eyes had lost their usual evil glint. He squinted to focus his eyes and leaned forward.

"Oh dear," Madame Pomfrey said, "He might have a concussion."

"Goyle, stop eating all the cupcakes. Save some for the penguins," Draco stammered out.

Madame Pomfrey let out a worried groan and led him to a bed and laid him down. Hermione followed and frowned, hoping the injuries weren't too serious. _Wait, what am I thinking? _Hermione asked herself, _Am I actually starting to worry about Malfoy?_ Madame Pomfrey went over to another bed and stole a pillow from it. She lifted up Draco's leg, in all the blood and dirt, and propped it up onto the pillow.

Draco reached for his leg and cried in pain, "My cheeto!"

_Well,_ Hermione thought, _If I start to care about Draco, maybe Harry will start to get jealous and realize he's not the only boy in the world._ After Hermione decided that acting as if she liked Draco was only to set Harry straight, she combed Draco's gel-less white-blonde hair back out of the way of his forehead. Draco looked up at her and smiled.

"Goodnight," he said, burying his head into the pillow.

"Oh no you don't!" Madame Pomfrey said, shaking Draco, "No sleep for you."

"Why can't he sleep?" Hermione asked, "Doesn't he need his rest?"

"Not if he has a concussion," she said, and kept shaking Draco until he was awake again.

As soon as Draco's eyes were open, Madame looked at Hermione and said, "I recommend that you leave. It's pretty late. If you get in trouble for being in the halls at this hour, tell them that you had to bring Mr. Malfoy here. They can come see me if they don't believe you."

Hermione nodded and made her way out and into the halls.

Before Hermione made one more step into the common room, she discovered Harry and Ron were having a conversation. She didn't turn the corner so that she could listen.

"So she leaves you stranded in the Quidditch field and walks off with Draco?" Ron asked Harry in disbelief.

"Yes! I couldn't believe it myself! I mean, come on, she's supposed to be _my_ girl, not Draco's! We were both hurt and she decides to help him!"

"How badly off was Draco?"

"He had a few little cuts no bigger than a papercut, and was acting as if his leg were broken. All a show, I tell you!"

"Man, Harry, maybe she just doesn't like you anymore."

"But we've been together for like six months!"

"Actually, it's been more like a year," Ron told him.

"Well that just proves my point further," Harry replied.

"So what's with the cat?" Ron asked.

Hermione gasped as she remembered she had left Bad Luck outside.

"What? This thing? She came walking out with it; I don't know where it came from. She'll probably name it after Draco," Harry muttered.

"Probably," Ron agreed.

Hermione felt like killing someone, namely Harry. Not only had he completely obscured the truth, but he was jumping to conclusions about the silliest things. He couldn't even remember how long they had been together! _It just goes to prove that he needs to learn that he's not the only guy in the world,_ Hermione thought.

"Were you the one that lent her my invisibility cloak?" Harry asked.

"Oh, yeah, sorry," Ron replied.

"Damn," Harry muttered, "It probably has Draco germs on it now."

Hermione stomped into the room, revealing herself. Harry and Ron's faces were filled with shock.

"Hermione? How long have you been here?" Harry asked.

"Give me my cat back," she said, ignoring his question.

"Give me my cloak back!" Harry shouted.

"Give me my cat back!" Hermione insisted.

Harry literally threw the cat at Hermione. Hermione gasped as the cat screeched in shock. Luckily, the cat landed on all fours. Hermione snatched up Bad Luck, and threw the invisibility cloak back at Harry.

"Did Draco wear this thing?" Harry asked, slightly disgusted.

"Yeah," Hermione said, "And I licked it too."

"You what?" Harry asked.

Hermione rolled her eyes at Harry for not catching her sarcasm, as she angrily walked out of the common room and headed up to her bed.


	3. Helpless Malfoy

A/N: I'm extremely sorry to all the fans/reviewers of this story! I hadn't posted the other lost 2 chapters, and you all should be thankful that they survived through my hard drive's reformat! Again, accept my apologies that I hadn't updated in forever, I've been dealing with computer problems and school, etc. If I were you, I wouldn't hold my breath to another chapter very soon. I've almost forgot the storyline myself! _ But please review on the mysterious lost 2 chapters to motivate me to write more! Oh no...I'm writing too long of an Author's Note. BYE!  
  
Chapter 3 - Helpless Malfoy  
"Can I see Draco, please?" Hermione asked Madame Pomfrey, who was engrossed in the Daily Prophet. Madame Pomfrey looked up and registered in her head what Hermione had just said.  
"Oh, sure, Ms. Granger. He's been resting all night."  
Madame Pomfrey put the Daily Prophet down and stood up. Hermione glanced at the moving pictures on the front page of the newspaper, but didn't get to catch the headlines since Madame Pomfrey was already guiding her to Draco's bed.  
"How badly is he hurt?" Hermione inquired.  
"The cuts on his head are nothing major. His right arm is pretty beat up, I put on some bandages. He was limping on his leg, but I don't see anything wrong with it. It seems he landed on his back, right on to some rocks, so his back is going to hurt for a while. Otherwise, it's definitely not as bad as it could have been."  
"Well that's good," Hermione said, "I mean how it's not as bad as it could be."  
"Too bad we can't say the same for his father," Madame Pomfrey said, looking at the ground.  
"What?" Hermione asked, completely at a loss of what she was talking about.  
"What, didn't you hear?" Madame Pomfrey asked Hermione, shocked that she didn't know. Hermione shook her head as Madame Pomfrey rushed back over to her desk and picked up the Daily Prophet. Hermione took it and read the headlines.  
"Lucius Malfoy Dies in Train Crash," Hermione read, nearly fainting.  
Madame Pomfrey hung her head and said, "Yes. I thought you knew. Dumbledore came in late last night with a migraine. When he saw Mr. Malfoy, he immediately asked what happened. I told him, and after he went back to his office, he called Lucius and told him that his son was injured. Lucius caught the first train to Hogwarts. Halfway to Hogwarts, the train suddenly derailed and caught on fire, torching everything and everyone. Some people got out in time, but most of them were dead. They think one of the bodies to be Lucius'."  
"Oh my Lord," Hermione gasped, "You have to be joking. How coul-how could Lucius Malfoy just.die?"  
"Hermione, I've been a nurse at Hogwarts almost my entire life. People come, people go. When somebody dies, it can be really tough to overcome," Madame Pomfrey tried to comfort her.  
"Can I just see Draco, please?" Hermione said, near tears.  
"Sure, go ahead," Madame Pomfrey said.  
Hermione made her way over to Draco's bed, and stood at the bedside. Poor thing, Hermione thought, Who's going to tell him his father died? How in the world will he be able to handle it? She just couldn't fathom what was going to happen. He looked so comforted, his eyes closed, resting on his pillow. He was so unaffected by what was going on in the outside world. He was just in his own little space, dreaming about.whatever Draco dreams about. It was nice for a change not to see him not sneering or scowling. She just had never thought of Draco as anything more than that evil little Slytherin. So there was something more to him.  
Draco's eyes slowly began to open. He tried to focus to see who was staring at him. After a few seconds, he could make out that it was Granger, smiling at him, as if she enjoyed seeing him in pain. Speaking of pain, Draco thought to himself as the surging pain rushed from his back and arm. He grunted in agony, and Hermione's grin slowly faded to a frown.  
"Where am I?" Draco asked.  
"You're in the hospital wing. You had a nasty fall last night and I took you here," Hermione reminded him.  
"Why in the world did you take me to the hospital wing?"  
"Fine, next time I'll just take you straight to the nearest cemetery."  
"No, I meant why did you help me?"  
"You were hurt. I couldn't very well let you suffer all night long. Harry sure didn't seem intent on helping you, so someone had to."  
"Oh. Well, thank you, I guess."  
"You're welcome, I guess."  
".So why are you still here?"  
"You want me to leave?"  
"I don't like people staring at me, especially if they're getting enjoyment out of my suffering."  
"I don't enjoy watching you suffer. I've just never seen you sleep before."  
".You're one weird little girl, you know that?"  
"I'll let that go since you're on pain killers."  
Draco's eyes started to close again. He gave one last glance to Hermione and then faded into a deep sleep. Hermione watched him for a couple more minutes, and then turned to leave.  
  
Harry and Ron entered the Great Hall and glanced at the Gryffindor table. There sat Hermione, chattering with fellow Gryffindors.  
"Should we sit by her?" Ron asked.  
"And risk getting yelled at? She's probably trained that cat she has against us," Harry answered.  
"Well then, where shall we sit?" Ron wondered.  
Ron then saw his sister, Ginny, waving her hand violently in the air. "What about sitting with Ginny?" Ron asked. "I suppose so," Harry responded, half-groaning. Ron and Harry made their way over to Ginny, and each took a seat next to her. "Hi guys," Ginny said, smiling and repositioning on the bench. Before Harry or Ron could respond, Ginny continued talking, "So! Harry! I heard you and Hermione broke up." "Um, no, we're just.we're just having a little quarrel over something," Harry corrected her. "Oh. You guys should just break up. I mean, I'm sure Hermione is impossible to live with." "Ginny," Ron told her, "They're just having a fight, don't try and break them up." "I wasn't trying," Ginny insisted. "Good evening!" Dumbledore shouted over the crowd as everyone quieted down, "I have a few announcements. We'd just like to remind everyone that any wandering around during the night is strictly forbidden. Breaking this rule results in loss of House Points and suspension of privileges." Hermione gulped. "Hermione Granger would also like to announce that she has found a black cat that goes by the name of 'Bad Luck'. If anyone knows who this cat belongs to, please contact Ms. Granger." Hermione looked around the room to see if anyone had a reaction to the news. She was starting to have a strange feeling about this cat, but she couldn't very well leave it stranded. "Now," Dumbledore concluded, "If no one has any questions, I think we'd all like to get on with our dinners, yes?" Crabbe raised a chubby hand and called, "Where's Draco?" "Mr. Malfoy is in the care of Madame Pomfrey. He had an accident last night, but he should be up on his feet by tomorrow," Dumbledore told him. Dumbledore looked around the room to see if there were any more questions. When all seemed fine, he nodded his head and sat back down. "So what are you and Hermione fighting about?" Ginny asked frankly. "She's just been acting really strangely lately," Harry answered. "She always acts strangely," Ron commented.  
  
Down the table, Hermione was scanning the food that had just appeared, looking for something to stuff in her pockets for her kitten. Parvati Patil looked at Hermione, slightly disgusted, as Hermione put a dinner roll in her pocket.  
"Need a doggy bag, Hermione?" Parvati asked.  
Hermione scowled and said, "No thanks. It's for my cat."  
"It's not your cat. You just found it," Parvati reminded her.  
"Well, I'm taking care of it until somebody claims it."  
"All you're giving it is a roll? Shouldn't it have some kitten food?"  
"Why do you care about my kitten and its eating habits? Who died and made you the Humane Society? Stop acting so arrogant and stay out of my business!"  
Parvati looked shocked from Hermione's angry outburst, but always had something else to say.  
"Me? Arrogant? You made Dumbledore announce to the entire school about your stupid little cat," Parvati said.  
"At least I know the difference between friend and boyfriend," Hermione snapped back, bringing up the time Parvati tried to seduce Harry while he was still going out with Hermione.  
"I guess Harry doesn't know either," Parvati said with a sneer, taking a letter out of her pocket and holding it up.  
".What is that?" Hermione asked.  
"Oh, nothing," Parvati said nonchalantly, "I just happened to find this note in my Potions book the other day. I'll spare you the sorrow of reading it, but let me just tell you this: Harry doesn't love you anymore, hun. He says you're impossible, and he wanted to know the next time I was available to. 'talk'."  
Hermione's mouth dropped. Now her planned was ruined. If Harry didn't love her anymore, how the hell was he supposed to be jealous? She was really missing the more important fact. She wanted to make Harry and herself closer, not separate them. Who did Harry think he was? Hermione was acting out of the ordinary so that gave him the right to mess around with Parvati? She had to get away. She glared at Parvati and then stood up. She headed for the door, but as she passed Harry, she snatched his goblet of whatever he was drinking, and splashed it on his shirt.  
"What the bloody hell do you think you're doing, Hermione?!" Harry shouted as he stared at his sopping wet shirt.  
"That's for wanting to cheat on me," Hermione yelled back.  
"What in the world are you talking about?" Harry asked.  
"Don't act stupid," Hermione muttered as she walked out of the Great Hall, a good sum of people staring at her and Harry to see what was happening. Hermione didn't know where to go. She wanted to get away from people, just to think. She finally remembered the perfect place. When in doubt, Hermione thought, go to the library. 


	4. Anything Particular

A/N: Lost chapter number 2! Yay! ::cough::  
  
Chapter 4 - Anything Particular  
"Hello Madame Pince," Hermione said happily as she entered the library.  
"Oh, hello dear," Madame Pince said, checking in some books, "Don't forget, you have a book due back tomorrow."  
Hermione nodded. Hermione walked over to the card catalog and opened the K-L category. She flipped through all the cards but couldn't find what she was looking for. She scanned rows and rows of books but still couldn't find anything on the subject. Hermione made her way back up to Madame Pince's desk where she was still busy checking in books.  
"Excuse me," Hermione said, "But I need help finding something."  
"Anything particular?" Madame Pince asked.  
"Yes," Hermione said, "I was wondering if you had any books on.Love."  
"Love?" Madame Pince asked, "Why in the world would a Hogwarts school library have any books on love?"  
"Well.It's an important subject," Hermione said and walked away.  
  
Hermione stayed up for hours reading books she knew she had read several hundreds of times before. Hermione glanced up to see Madame Pince had fallen asleep on the desk. She felt sort of guilty, making Madame Pince stay up as she continued to read. As Hermione was about to get up to leave and wake up Madame Pince, the library door slowly crept open. Through the candlelight, Hermione saw a nervous face peeking in. The door opened the rest of the way and Lavender Brown stepped in, seeing that Madame Pince had fallen asleep and was now lightly snoring. Hermione glared at Lavender as she made her way over to Hermione. From Hermione's stare, Lavender thought she was unwelcome and was hesitant to say anything.  
"H-Hi Hermione," Lavender said.  
"Hi Lavender, what are you doing here?" Hermione asked suspiciously.  
"Well, it was getting pretty late and I was wondering where you were, so I thought I'd check here," Lavender explained, awkwardly standing opposite to Hermione, who was closing the book she was reading.  
"Do you have some note from Harry too?" Hermione asked bitterly.  
"What?"  
Hermione sighed and explained, "Parvati had some note from Harry. We're having a fight and." Hermione drifted off as she stood up to put the book away.  
"Who? You and Harry or you and Parvati?"  
"Both, I guess." Lavender followed Hermione as she went back to put the book back on its rightful shelf.  
"What are you and Harry fighting about?"  
"Well, he's just been acting so-Wait, why do you care?" Hermione was still suspicious about Lavender's unexpected visit.  
"You've just seemed really angry lately, and I thought maybe you'd need someone to talk to." Hermione read Lavender's face and decided her intentions were genuine.  
"Well, okay. Sometimes I just feel that Harry isn't taking this seriously, you know? It's like love is all a game to him and I'm his pawn. He can be so hypocritical sometimes, it just drives me mad. The problem is, I don't really want to break it off with him. Deep down I think I really do love him."  
"You think you love him? How can you be so unsure about everything?"  
"I can't really say I'm sure about anything right now," Hermione muttered.  
"Maybe it would be good to take a break from Harry," Lavender advised, "Give you some time to think about everything."  
Good advice, Hermione thought, But then I'm afraid he'll never take me back. Whatever the matter, Hermione realized she was dead tired and talking with Lavender wasn't helping a bit.  
"Thanks," Hermione said, "But I really do need to go to bed."  
"Okay," Lavender said.  
Hermione and Lavender walked out of the library, the closing of the door shaking Madame Pince into awareness that she had fallen asleep.  
What was Hermione to do? Should she talk with Harry, take a break, or continue her plan with Draco. Hermione closed her eyes and nodded it off. She was too tired to walk back to her bedroom, much less think and stress. 


End file.
